History shows that women aren’t new to participating in the governance of public companies—and that women’s demands to join corporate boards didn’t start in the 21st century, or even in the 1970s. The movement to put women on corporate boards is more than 70 years old. Why didn’t the post-war push for women on boards produce better results? Corporate governance wasn’t gender neutral. Even when women were the dominant demographic among shareholders, social forces and sex discrimination allowed all-male boards to reject repeated demands that they nominate women for board seats.